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Nissan Fairlady Z/Z-car and earlier derivatives
The other Z-Warriors.*
"The Nissan Z is one of the best Nissan sports cars and has been in production since 1969. Nissan manufactured the Z in seven generations, with the latest iteration introducing modern technology and over double the performance of its predecessors."
—HotCars.com
The Nissan Z-series is a model series of sports cars manufactured by Nissan in seven generations since 1969.
The original Z was first sold on October 1969 in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z (Japanese: 日産・フェアレディZ, Nissan Fearedi Zetto) as a replacement for the Nissan Bluebird, and initially marketed as the Datsun 240Z for international customers. Known for their looks, reliability, performance and affordability, since then Nissan has manufactured seven generations of Z-cars: Nissan Fairlady Z (S30), Nissan Fairlady Z (S130), Nissan 300ZX, Nissan 350Z, Nissan 370Z, with the most recent—simply known as the Nissan Z—in production since 2022.
Anime and Manga
- Ryuji Ikeda of Initial D, The Leader of Team Spiral and the specialist of the "Zero Theory" technique is the Badass Driver behind the Burning Red Fairlady Z (Z33), fitted with Ings components. During a deathmatch race between Ryosuke's newly modified RX-7 and Rin Hojo's R32, Ryuji uses his car to help slow Rin's car after a brake failure.
- Wangan Midnight becomes a legend that creates new legends where the Nissan Fairlady plays a huge role of the Wangan story...
- Perhaps every tuner enthusiast and racing game fan would fully recognise this legendary Hero's Classic Car, And that is the famous, but supernaturally deadly midnight blue S30, the Devil Z. The owner of this Cool Car is none other than The Protagonist, Akio Asakura. Previous owners of this car died in numerous car accidents, making this one deadly Fragile Speedster. Even Eriko's late brother also named Akio Asakura was one of the victims of this tragedy.Akio: You can refuse as much as you want, but I am like you Devil Z!
- In the earlier chapters, Akio once owned a red Z31 Z and briefly challenged Tatsuya Shima's Blackbird (a black Porsche 964 Turbo. He sold it before he got his hands to this Cool Car.
- And speaking of Z31... Harada, Hiramoto's friend owns this car. While chasing down Reina in her R32, his engine was blown out from Overheating, prompting Harada to ride along with Hiramoto in his R32.
- Makoto Morishita, a fashion model and close friend of Reina Akikawa drives a yellow Z32 300ZX after she sold her Impreza. This becomes the central car for "The Legendary F1 Turbine", as this car is tuned by Yamashita.
- Perhaps every tuner enthusiast and racing game fan would fully recognise this legendary Hero's Classic Car, And that is the famous, but supernaturally deadly midnight blue S30, the Devil Z. The owner of this Cool Car is none other than The Protagonist, Akio Asakura. Previous owners of this car died in numerous car accidents, making this one deadly Fragile Speedster. Even Eriko's late brother also named Akio Asakura was one of the victims of this tragedy.
- Shakotan Boogie, being a predecessor of Wangan Midnight:
- One of the deuteragonists, Akira Shimizu, owns a Pimped-Out Car on his S30, with a G-Nose kit and "Yanky Mate!" decals.
- One of the minor characters, Johnny, drives a Z31.
- There are dozens of Datsun Zs in the background when Mater and Lightning McQueen are visiting Tokyo in Cars 2. But there is one notable Fairlady; that is Mach Matsuo, a seasoned international racer, who serves as Shu Todoroki's coach.
- Fairladies are one of the hot import tuners of the The Fast and the Furious films.
- Takashi, the Drift King and the Big Bad of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is the driver behind this iconic Black Veilside 350Z with Ghostlight scarab graphics. His close friend Morimoto also drives a 350Z, except its gold and black, and fitted with a Top Secret kit. Both Zs were wrecked in the process. Takashi drives off Suicide Mountain after trying to defend his lead by slam Sean Boswell's Mustang, and Morimoto was killed from a head-on collision with a traffic car earlier.
- A yellow Datsun 240Z with a Pandem body kit is the car of Isabel Neves in Fast X. The car was destroyed during a race war by Dante Reyes since that car was rigged with explosives. Luckily, she survived thanks to Dom's intervention.
- Toha Yamaji/Jiraiya's main vehicle, the Black Saber, is a black Z31 300ZX in Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya.
- The Joker, K's souped-up patrol car in Robot Detective is built around a Nissan Fairlady Z (S30). Also a Flying Car that is still cool enough to be more than just a Cool Car.
- A 1985 Nissan 300ZX Z31 3-litre V6 Turbo in Wellington Paranormal is perhaps a Cool Car with Haunted Technology.
- The Herbie: Fully Loaded song "First
" by Lindsay Lohan sure gave that music video that Car Porn love. Besides the titular sentient Beetle himself, the car that also takes the cake is a silver 350Z having a 'lil drag race with the other drivers.
- While the 370Z exists since Asphalt 5, in 8: Airborne, you get this 370Z Special Edition, a fully Pimped-Out Car with a water-themed livery inspired by the The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
- This is the car detective Raymond Broady drives in Chase H.Q. sequel S.C.I.: Special Criminal Investigation. It's a red roofless 300ZX T-Top Turbo, allowing Tony Gibson at the passenger side to shoot his firearm.
- In The Crew Motorfest, there is a Motorfest headquarters in Fresno, and it is where the player obtains a special modified Nissan 300ZX from the end of one of the stories.
- Colin McRae: DIRT 2 uniquely features the Nissan 350Z to the lineup for Rally, Rallycross & Trailblazer. Quite uncommon to see a modern Fairlady dishing out gravel in rallies like this. It became prominent as it is the car of Mohammed ben Sulayem for the three mentioned disciplnes, as he has is own unique livery to that.
- In DIRT Rally 2.0, the Datsun 240Z made waves in the lineup as a beginner friendly historic RWD rally car.
- Your Exposition Fairy and Mission Control Namiko of Drift Spirits runs an orange Nissan Fairlady Z (S30) as her car of choice.
- No matter what generation the Z is, Forza and Gran Turismo would commonly have many of them. For distinction, the FM-tuned 350Z is depicted in the box art for Forza Motorsport 2, whereas the latter have the Fairlady Z Concept in 3, and a Gran Turismo 4 Limited Edition 350Z in... uh... Gran Turismo 4, as well as the many many trims, plus the tuned and racing variants, primarily, the GT500 race car from Super GT.
- As part of a collaboration with Donut Media, Forza Horizon 5 has "Hi-Low" 350Zs, which the player can use freely after completing their associated Horizon Story.
- GRID has this Top Secret 350Z as a Pro-Tuned class race car. In later sequels, it jumps through disciplines, such as Autosport as a Drift car and in 2019 as a Gr.2 race car, similar to the other Group GT4 race cars.
- In GRID 2, it adds Chris Forsberg's Formula D-spec V8-powered NOS Energy 370Z, with a Nismo body kit as a drift car.
- The De'Leo 58 is seen driven by Racket Informants and several Mooks in various missions of Mafia III. It's based on the Datsun 240Z and is considered to be the very few Japanese-based cars in the game. One of Jonathan Maguire's images on him shows Danny Burke next to that yellow Cool Car.
- The Tokyo Cop in Midnight Club II is heavily based on the 1989 Nissan Fairlady Z. Truth in Television, said Z was widely used by Japanese police at that time.
- Need for Speed has somehow made an on-and-off tradition of pairing Nissan’s Z-series cars with the ladies:
- Over Drivin' Skyline Memorial, in which Everybody Owns a Nissan is officially the first game to utilize the legendary Z, where you get the 240ZG and the 300ZX. But since the game was only sold in Japan...
- Fans would easily remember the Z for the first time in Underground, which featured the 2003 Nissan 350Z. A mysterious silver 350Z is revealed to be driven by Melissa, the game's Post-Final Boss after beating Eddie. But what stood out by many fans growing up is the custom metallic green 350Z with a purple dragon vinyl in the sequel, driven by Rachel Teller.
- The 350Z would be Neville's Tier 3 tuner car in Carbon after Nissan was previously absent in Most Wanted. In its portable version Own the City, the facelifted 2006 variant of the 350Z is driven by Daemon of the Corps. Sara also drives one during her Post-Final Boss race after her Toyota MR2 got blown up by EX.
- The opening sequence of Undercover allows you to try A Taste of Power of the new Nissan 370Z (Z34), before you are given a Nissan 240SX (S13) as your Starter Mon.
- The 370Z would be Zarinah's signature car, seen in her opening in Nitro, used as her car for the Silver Cup.
- The Fanservice duo, Nikki and Mila in The Run both drive identical 370Zs for the Epic Race. Nikki later reappears once more in Stage 9 as the last lady standing against Jack. Guess Mila didn't make the cut.
- Travis, as the anonymous Outlaw drive classic Fairlady 240ZG. When not an Outlaw however has him in a classic Skyline 2000GT-R.
- While the 350Z returned in Payback, La Catarina, The Leader of Graveyard Shift, also drives this Day of the Dead-themed junk. The 240ZG itself is one of the 5 derelict cars, and you can modify this Japanese classic JDM in various builds.
- Speaking of Payback, Ana Rivera in Heat drives a light blue 350Z with a bodykit last used in Shift. Too bad she had to say goodbye to her beloved Z as Officer Danny Shaw impounds it for utterly no reason.
- Two known rivals in Unbound in their Zs: Waru's pimped out 240ZG, and Justicia's 350Z who for some reason appears in every race. Also in the prologue, you get to tryout an RZ34 Z Prototype as part of a "car delivery" for Alec.
- A black Datsun 240Z is Lo Wang's personal Cool Car, as seen before his first mission at the beginning of Shadow Warrior (2013). ...with some Transformers music to boot!Lo Wang: God damn right! (singing) YOU GOT THE POWER! WHEN ALL HELL'S BREAKIN' LOOSE, YOU'LL BE RIDING THE EYE OF THE STORM.
- The 600 Coupe S in Sleeping Dogs is quite clearly based on the Datsun 240Z. This is one of Wei Shen's vehicles.
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer:
- Extremely common through-out every single game of the series, from standard opponents to bosses. The most notable owner of one is, of course, UNKNOWN, whose dark blue S30 is shrouded in legend.
- Midnight Wolf switches out his usual Skyline GT-R for a Z32 in a Knight Rider-inspired body kit in Street Supremacy.
- While Tatsuya's Blackbird is clearly a 911, the international release of Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune has his Blackbird changed into a Z33 instead, equipped with Aero Set C (Nismo S-Tune GT) body kit, in an attempt to disguise it as a Porsche. Starting in 4, it now uses the proper 911, albeit the RUF Yellowbird.
- And with the Fairlady Z alone, has added ever single generation to date.
Western Animation
Nissan GT-R
An even almightier Godzilla, now standing on its own.
"None, regardless of talent, could dispute the GT-R's ability to leave mouths agape and spines tingling. Its mind-blowing faculties seemingly blur the line between surreality and reality-what a fantastical "Anyone, anytime, anywhere" supercar should do."
—MotorTrend
The Nissan GT-R (R35) is a car made by Nissan to succeed the Nissan Skyline GT-R, the high-performance version of the Nissan Skyline, in 2007. Being a Continuity Reboot of the GT-R nameplate, it serves as Nissan's premier 2+2 sports coupe.
It dates all the way back to the Turn of the Millennium when Nissan intended to build the world's finest supercar that would beat its competitors. The GT-R was originally part of its revival plan during the twilight of the R34 Skyline GT-R (as the succeeding V-series Skyline generations revisited their luxury sedan roots from the Prince Skyline days, thus separating the GT-R nameplate by intentions). Its very first Super Prototype, the GT-R concept was unveiled during the Tokyo Motor Show in 2001. Nissan would confirm production, intends to worldwide markets in limited quantities. Nissan would eventually build a revised version in 2005, now called the GT-R Proto, also unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show. Officials say 80% to 90% of the body would base its production on that prototype, which in fact, actually happened.
After seven yeats of development, the GT-R was finally unveiled in 2007, built using the PM platform. A supercar combining high-performance with high-practicality of a grand tourer, new features include advanced aerodynamics, a new 473 hp 3.8 L twin-turbocharged VR38DETT V6 engine that sets the fastest accelerating car of 2009, an active suspension, a drivetrain with a rear mounted independent transaxle and its multifunctional-display designed by Polyphony Digital, the creators of Gran Turismo. Its body uses a mix of steel, aluminium and carbon fibre. It's one of the first to ever feature launch-control and dual-clutch transmission.
It was Nissan's first ever supercarnote as well as their first grand tourer since 1992 Nissan Leopard coupe, and designed to beat other supercars in par of price and performance such as the Porsche 911, Chevrolet Corvette and the Dodge Viper. Despite being sold in limited quantities, the GT-R was offered in numerous variants and facelifts thoughout its current production timeline, ranging from the special edition SpecV in 2009, to the high-performing factory-tuned GT-R NISMO introduced in 2015, to even the limited bespoke GT-R50 by Italdesign in 2019.
Other than being the Japanese supercar, it would see action in motorsports, as seen in the GT3 racing series in which Gran Turismo key people Kazunori Yamauchi and Jann Maddenborough competed with the car. It also competed in the short-lived FIA GT1 World Championship where the GT-R won the drivers championship in 2011. But mostly, the GT-R plays a key role in the Japanese premier racing series, Super GT, which saw numerous Driver and Team championship titles throughout its lifespan.
The GT-R was highly praised amongst enthusiasts and critics alike, to the point ''Top Gear calls it "one of the most incredible cars of any kind ever built".
Anime and Manga
- The blue GT-R Pure Edition is the car Shunsuke Hayami operates in Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter. Combine this with the other Godzillas and you have yourself a GT-RRR Gyrozetter.
- Other than his beloved Fiat 500, Kazunobu Chiba of Detective Conan runs this domestic supercar; a MY17 Godzilla.
- One of the drivers who'd bring a domestic supercar in MF Ghost would be Shun Aiba, Kanata's friend and mentor. His chosen car for the race would be his white Nissan GT-R NISMO. And while the car is actually fast in the straights thanks to its acceleration, he miscalculated his timing when he overshot his brakes to a runoff during a three wide sudden death between him against Kaito's 488 and Yuudai's R8, conceding his third place and dropping down to 6th, since he's also overtaken by Yosuke's AMG GT.
- Wangan Midnight C1 Runner has one modified GT-R R35 in the hands of Takahiko Arisu as his demo car from his tuning factory ARISE.
- The Chase Scene of Catwoman: Hunted has Tobias Whale and his goons pursue Selina in vehicles. One of them runs a black GT-R lookalike.
- An unmarked Nissan GT-R Nismo would be what one of the Special Investigation Section (SIS) use in Ambulance.
- A camo designed Nissan GT-R show up as one of the featured cars Børning 2 that joins with the gang in an illegal street race across the Norwegian snow.
- While Zach Sobiech has months left to live, one moment of Clouds has him take a Nissan GT-R for a drive and impress his fellow student Amy Adamle and make out together, despite his mom's protests since his dad wants to feel happy before his tragic passing.
- Brian O'Connor must be switching between Godzillas throughout The Fast and the Furious
- The ending of Fast Five gets into an Unknown Rematch Conclusion where Dominic Toretto in a black 2009 SRT-8 challenge Brian in his GT-R to a race. The film cuts to the end credits as Dom accepts Brian's challenge, but you get to see the outcome in the very beginning of the next film.
- ...and said next film? In Fast & Furious 6 Brian can finally relax after bringing Owen Shaw to justice, he celebrates by buying himself a blue GT-R, decked with a Bensopra body kit. It's parked at the Toretto House at the end.
- During the climax of Furious 7, Brian would take command in his GT-R with Ramsey alongside him, while being hunted by Mose Jakande's UAV gunfire. Thanks to its hydraulic system, it can drive Under the Truck.
- Name any movie directed by Neill Blomkamp. You're certainly guaranteed to see the Nissan GT-R to be an all-show in every one of his movies as part of the Author Appeal, and hell, Blomkamp himself is a proud GT-R owner:
- Even Chappie himself at one point would hilariously carjack a grey Nissan GT-R.
- It's over 140 years old (given the film was set in 2154) and yet, this battle-ready Nissan GT-R of Elysium is futuristic relic, built as a venerable and roadworthy heist vehicle.
- The GT-R would be exaggerated as one of the featured cars of the Gran Turismo movie, since it has strong ties as the GT Academy car:
- This would be the car Jann Maddenborough would use during Race Camp, which would have been source of historical inaccuracy and Anachronism Stew, given that scene was set in 2011, because 1) He used a Nissan 370Z in Real Life, and 2) that GT-R is a 2017 post-facelifted model.
- Following his success in Race Camp, Jann would jump into the almighty GT-R NISMO GT3 race car to obtain his FIA racing license. This gained infamy by its logical extreme during Jann's first VLN race where it highlights the infamous Nürburgring Nordschleife crash where the car would ultimately kill a spectator. All intensly Played for Drama. Brutal.
- Cruis'n Blast once ran a Nissan GT-R NISMO in arcades before it was relegated into just your ordinary GT-R.
- Breaking the mold from just only European cars, has this DLC. One of the few Japanese cars ever added in Driveclub has this MY15 Nissan GT-R and the track-oriented GT-R NISMO. One of the best of the best in the Performance class and Super class respectively.
- You can have John Tanner rock a Godzilla supercar in Driver: San Francisco. Its second Race Takedown activity where the targets are all driving Nissans, one of them is a GT-R.
- GT-Rs are quite ubiquitous since its inception in Forza Motorsport 3. Its special editions would be highly decked with a Liberty Walk body kit.
- The initial drive of Motorsport 7 put you in Ukyo Takagi's shoes, as you drive the 2015 GT-R GT500 around one lap of the Nürburgring during a heavy rainfall.
- Other than that, the MY17 GT-R would be known for its errors such as missing side mirrors and non-functional brake lights. Thankfully it was patched. Also, that GT-R would usually be the featured car in Horizon's Forzathon weekly challenges.
- It all dates back in Gran Turismo Concept with its 7-speed GT-R Concept seen during the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show, but still is an Improbably Cool Car, nonetheless. Even it runs a Le Mans-spec GT-R Concept race car too, the Dream Car Championship reward. By Gran Turismo 5, there's an absurd amount of Godzillas to list down, including the vanilla GT-R, GT-R Spec V, and even the 2012 Black Edition. Plus the 2005 Proto and the "Black Mask" version with its bumpers fully covered. Not to mention the Super GT GT500 race cars and the GT Academy edition as well.
- Also, the GT-R would serve as the featured car of the Gran Turismo 5: Prologue cover.
- By Gran Turismo Sport, there are still GT-Rs aplenty, serving as the basis for a Gr.4, Gr.3 (GT-R Nismo GT3), Gr.2 (the aforementioned Super GT cars) and even a Gr.B rally car. If you manage to get all gold in the Driving Test, you're awarded the GT-R safety car. Yes. The one that looks like that infamous Skyline GT-R pace car.
- As a way to celebrate the release of the aforementioned 2023 film, Gran Turismo 7 gives you Jann Maddenborough's 2018 GT-R Nismo GT3 movie car for free.
- Also, the GT-R would serve as the featured car
- Who'd know a Nissan supercar would show up in Initial D Arcade Stage, where some of their courses (ie. Irohazaka) are in the same prefecture as the GT-R's manufacturing plant (in Tochigi Prefecture, no less!), unless it had to do with the collaboration event with MF Ghost, especially the GT-R NISMO driven bt the aforementioned Shun Aiba.
- Just like the Skyline GT-R, this almighty Godzilla successor would be the Japanese supercar of Need for Speed:
- It debuted in ProStreet. Not only you get the vanilla GT-R but also its 2005 prototype, as seen in the game cover. Though you can't modify the GT-R Proto, despite the cover saying otherwise.
- The GT-R would be the Tri-City Bay's Super State Cruiser during high-speed pursuits of Undercover. The same car would be used as a Federal Cruiser for The Run.
- Both the vanilla GT-R and the GT-R SpecV appear in Shift, for the former, a Works conversion makes it Super GT race car, while the latter makes it an FIA GT1 car.
- It's more prominent in the sequel. As you start the game, you get A Taste of Power with the NFS Edition GT-R around Suzuka, and if you manage to beat Jamie Campbell-Walter in the FIA GT1 Championship, his GT-R GT1, the game's cover car, is all yours.
- In Hot Pursuit, the GT-R SpecV would be prominently be used in the "Trail of Destruction" racer event.
- It shows up in the 2015 reboot, where the GT-R has body kits galore from Rocket Bunny, Varis, Liberty Walk, Pandem and Bensophia. One post-launch update adds the 2017 facelift.
- ...and said 2017 facelift would be seen in one of the House's pawns, driven by Diamond Block's Mitko Vasilev from Payback...
- ...and again in Unbound where the GT-R also had a pimped out version from Legendary Customs. Ukrainian racer Anechka runs a zebra-patterned GT-R.
- And speaking of that GT-R Concept from Gran Turismo, you also get to drive this Improbably Cool Car in Project Gotham Racing 3.
- It's a Secret Character in Sega's arcade Racing Game R-Tuned: Ultimate Street Racing, where a mysterious rival named Mr. R runs a purely bone-stock Nissan GT-R in a world full of pimped out tuners. And it's unplayable, too. ...and he has his own unique banter.Mr. R: It seems I'm needed here. This should be interesting. Think you can follow me?
- The "hero" car featured on the cover of Ridge Racer 7 is the Kamata RC410, drawn mainly from its still-concept Nissan GT-R (R35). And said "hero" car even predated the FIA GT1/GT3 spec GT-R in Real Life!
- The actual GT-R is the one driven by the Final Boss Emperor (real name Sagara Shou, who is Namiko's Aloof Big Brother) in the main story mode of Ridge Racer spinoff Drift Spirits, after a plethora of Forced Level-Grinding.
- The Takumi RX-T in Rocket League would resemble the Nissan GT-R judging by its headlights. Just only if the game didn't give out the Fujiwara name.
- Also, there is the Hanzo GT from Split Second that primarily takes cues to the Nissan GT-R, thanks to its headlight.
- Other than the Skyline GT-R R34, the R35 appears alongside the other Nissans of Test Drive Unlimited 2.
- The GT-R was first introduced in Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3DX+, alongside its Hakusoka cousin. While it is a Cool Car and arguably the first supercar at that time, the car can't be visually dressed-up, and would use an unusual tuning system. Rikako Ohta would be the one to do the horse work (in 3DX+) instead of Jun Kitami.
- There are also special edition Godzillas in later installments such as the MY17 GT-R as a terminal scratch reward and the GT-R Nismo as July's Navi Scratch-off reward.
- And introduced in 6RR would be this rare GT-R50 by Italdesign. Finally, this GT-R has aero kits.
Nissan Silvia and derivatives
"Nissan's S-chassis, or Silvia, as it was named in Japan, is synonymous with the art of drifting and has long served as one of the most desirable vehicle chassis by enthusiasts worldwide. That fact remains even today, over two decades after the last bit of production took place."
Arguably the most popular and ubiquitous JDM tuner and drift car there is.
Derived from Sylvia, the nymph who served the goddess of the hunt, Diana, the Nissan Silvia is a series of front-engine, rear-wheel drive sports cars produced from 1965 until the end of 2002. Various have been exported of Japan and marketed as either the 200SX or 240SX, usually sold under the Datsun brand.
It all began in 1964 when it was made public during the Tokyo Motor Show, built from an existing Nissan Fairlady platform. The first Silvia (CSP311) or the "Datsun Coupé 1500" began production in 1965, which all are handcrafted and built in limited quantities (with a mere 554 produced), utilizing a 1.6 L Nissan R inline-4 engine producing 95 hp. It was considered to be one of the fastest Japanese cars at that time when it was provided to local Tokyo metropolitan police for a patrolling car.
It was Put on a Bus in 1968 before the Silvia marked its return in 1975, with its new S10 chassis, built on its all-new S platform. Intended to be a compact RWD sports car, this would see a massive production boom for the model, and saw massive exports to North American markets as the Datsun 200SX. Through out its short 4-year life span from 1975 to 1979, it has produced over 145,000 units. It was followed by the S110, noted for its sharp design and similarities to the Nissan Leopard. It would later on be rebadged as the Nissan Gazelle. The S12 produced from 1983 to 1989, with its usage of its retractable pop-up headlights and its resemblance to the Toyota AE86 Corolla Levin/Sprinter Trueno.
By 1988, Nissan launches the S13 which became extremely popular and perhaps the one that codified the Silvia name. Upon its introduction, the S13 follows a unique suite of trim levels named after Playing Card Motifs; J's which is the naturally-aspirated base, the Q's, which is the intermediary level, which offers turbochargers as an option, and K's, which is the flagship turbocharger model. On the same year, a separate fastback model, the 180SX was released, built on the same S13 chassis. Both the Silvia and the 180SX were marketed as the 240SX in North America and the 200SX in Europe. This was almost the same methodology used for the S14 Silvia in 1993, which was offered a larger turbocharge, as well as being also available in "Aero" variants with more ground effects and large rear spoilers.
In 1999, just as the Turn of the Millennium starts, Japan saw a brand new version of the Silvia, now as the S15 with aggressive styling as par to modern car design trends. Unlike the previous two predecessors, the Silvia trims are just simplified to just Spec-S and Spec-R, representing naturally-aspirated and turbocharged engines respectively. Both are also available in "Aero" variants, too. The S15 was only sold in Japan, but also had exports to Australia and New Zealand as the 200SX. With strengthening emission laws and the spiking popularity of minivans hitting the sales of sports coupes, the Silvia ended production on August 2002.
The Silvia has been into various forms of motorsports ranging from the 240RS that competed in Group B, to the super silhouette S12 that drew interest to many of the top tuners like HKS and Tomei. Other than that, Silvias have been widely used in drifting, especially the S13 through S15 models, due to its extreme versatility of the S-chassis. This began widely popular in Japan's premiere drifting championship, the D1 Grand Prix, where about 50% of the drivers use Silvias as their choice of cars.
Anime and Manga
- Being a dedicated drift car, Initial D features Silvias driven by characters who have found solace with drifting, due to being part of the car's gimmick.
- The Leader of the Akina SpeedStars, Koichiro Iketani drives a Lime Green Two-tone S13 Silvia K's, which the car itself looks near-stock other than the exhaust and 4-spoke SSR wheels. During First Stage, his car was badly damaged during a practice run while avoiding an oncoming car, but lost control and crashed onto a guardrail.
- Iketani's Number Two, Kenji on the other hand drives a white 180SX which never saw any battles.
- And speaking of the 180, meet Mako Sato and Sayuri, the two ladies of Impact Blue. Their signature car is none other than the blue SilEighty, a 180SX with an S13 front end. Mako drives the car while Sayuki acts as her navigator and co-pilot. Not only the duo got A Day in the Limelight in Extra Stage, but even the car itself also counts.
- An orange zenki S14 Silvia Q's (red in Arcade Stage) is driven by Kenta Nakamura, a member of Akagi RedSuns and the team's rain specialist.
- Then you have Those Two Guys... from Tokyo. Both own and drive a Sparkling Silver S15 Silvia that looks purely stock on the outside.
- Team Spiral's Hiroya Okuyama drives a Brilliant Blue S15 with a GP Sports kit. Despite its fully modded looks, He gets utterly curbstomped by Takumi Fujiwara, falling behind during his downhill race at Nanamagari.
- A red Nissan 180SX was the car driven by the main character of a web manga Dricam!!, Rin Todoroki. Since the manga was all about drifting, expect a numerous amount of Silvias to make an appearance.
- Wangan Midnight has an S15 Silvia tuned by RGO tested by Eiji Kamiya in the "Hanshin Expressway" arc. The same Silvia would later be driven by Yamanaka (one of the mechanics working in RGO) and Rikako Ota in WMMT1 and WMMT2, respectively.
- Cars features a Silvia Expy, usually under the Kyoku brand:
- Boost, one of the the Delinquent Road Hazards, is cladded in a Kyoko Jitsu body, which is based on a 1999 Nissan Silvia S15.
- The episode "Tokyo Mater" during Mater's Tall Tales has Mater surrounded by Kabuto's Ninja henchcars, all are based of 200/240SXs. And they know "Car Fu" (pun unintended, if you know what we mean).
- Silvias are amongst the popular JDMs during the tuner era of The Fast and the Furious:
- The most recognizable of all its sisters would be the "Mona Lisa" C-WEST Silvia S15 Spec-S of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, built by Han Seoul-Oh and driven by Sean Boswell, notable for its blue paint and orange wraparound stripe. It was used for drifting around the parking lot. And then the car gets badly damages when he crashes into the pillars.
- A red watered down version of the S14 Silvia, the 240SX fitted with a VIS body kit belonged to Letty Ortiz in the first film, used to partake in race wars.
- Maggie Peyton of Herbie: Fully Loaded originally chose a 240SX as a graduation present. Until Herbie wriggled free of a crane and lands down atop of the car, crushing it.
- Jason Mewes, who stars As Himself of Madness in the Method brings a JDM around Los Angeles. And that is a brilliant blue S15, completely decked with a Vertex Ridge body kit.
- A black Nissan S14 200SX is the main car of Curtis and Keel of CI5: The New Professionals. Interestingly, this was Hilarious in Hindsight as there was an ad made years earlier before the show, showing signs of Product Placement with Nissan.
- A highly-modified zenki S14 Silvia, painted in red is the Cool Car of Scott Truman of Power Rangers RPM, which is his pride and joy. Bonus points that he is the red ranger, so... Color-Coded for Your Convenience!
- Section Chief Kenzo Kogure of Seibu Keisatsu has a Nissan Gazelle convertible as his personal car, like his actor, Yujiro Ishihara did in Real Life.
- When Eminem bailed out of his motorcycle during the music video "Phenomenal", he outright landed (accidentally) on the driver seat of the unnamed driver's (Randall Park) Rocket Bunny 240SX. When both switched seats, Eminem Drives Like Crazy here as he drifts the car all around while outrunning his Mooks in G-Wagons. Randall would eventually took a selfie with Em in this car...Eminem: Really? Are you taking a fucking selfie?
Randall: Uh, yeah, could you look at the camera?
Eminem: OUT! - "Mood" by 24kGoldn shows him sitting with his girlfriend with his pimped-out 240SX. And said girlfriend angrily threatened to Batter Up! his car when she found out he's texting someone.
- Silvias are Nissan's typical B-class cars of Battle Gear. By 3, there is a tuned 180SX (which is a SilEighty) where upon looking at the interior, you can clearly see a driver and a passenger occupying both seats, a-la Mako & Sayuki.
- About 50% of the Professional drivers of D1 Professional Drift Grand Prix Series dig S15 Silvias as their preferred car of choice.
- While there are so many Silvias to list down, this perhaps became extremely notorious. The S15 Silvia Spec-R that appeared in every Forza game to date, which gained infamy from the community for the car being totally Off-Model. From its droopy rear quarter, to its pinched nose, to lacking fog lamps and side skirts. So much for being ahem... "built from the ground up".
- Other than that, there are also plenty of Formula D S14s too. Many of them having an S15 front end.
- Way too many examples to count in Gran Turismo, since there are loads and loads of Silvias and its regional derivatives plus its various trims, as well as your grandma's obscure S12. There is so many to list down, that the series even had spawned a dedicated "Silvia Sisters" one-make race.
- L.A. Rush has that blue 240SX (S14) as the car you start off with. That car belonged to Trikz Lane, The Protagonist of the game who stated it all began with this car which gave his a renowned reputation. And following the repossession of his mansion, the S14 is what's left of him.
- Silvias have been a popular tuner in Need for Speed, typically as a starter car.
- While it was introduced in Underground, the 240SX returned in the Collector's Edition Carbon as probably a Tier 1 powerhouse due to being the Jack of All Stats performance-wise.
- The 240SX the signature car of Ryan Cooper from ProStreet, despite its unassuming appearance. After you finish D-Day, you get to keep the car and is highly your starter car. It returned again in Undercover and again.... it's your starter car.
- Shift has many notables examples, where the Drift Alliance 240SX is given to you for drift events.
- By the time of the 2015 reboot, it switches from 240 to 180 which your mate, Amy drives this car. Lots of aftermarket body kits can be applied, ranging from Rocket Bunny kits to ones made by Origin Labs.
- The Silvia S15, by surprise is driven by ProStreet's drift king, Aki Kimura in Payback.
- Finally, the S14 K's Aero of Unbound which is one of the three starter cars. Deck out a Legendary Customs body kit and it looks like it's some hillclimbing time attack car with its comically large spoiler and its roof completely torn off.
- Makoto Sawaki of Racing Lagoon is perhaps notable of his iconic Sil-14. As the name implies, it's indeed an S14 Silvia. It was the car that took his life during the Yokohama GP qualifying round.
- The Spec-R Aero S15 is the car you'd probably start off Real Racing 3.
- There's too much to list on in Tokyo Xtreme Racer, but the one the stands out the most and is fully recognizable amongst the Silvia drivers is none other than the Death Driver, the most fearsome of the expressway. And his iconic black and red S15 perhaps something none shall be trifled with. The Gloomy Angel on the other hand is just a Palette Swap, with its car painted white.
- While Rikako Ohta Does Not Drive in the manga/anime, Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune on the other hand has her being a capable driver on the highway. And her choice of car is a pink Nissan Silvia S15.
- And there's the long-awaited S13, available exclusively to Japanese players in 5DX+ but also as a December Navi scratch-off for overseas players of 6RR. Unfortunately, the S13 can't be modified, despite the fact there had long been biblical amounts of body kits for said car.
Nissan Skyline GT-R series
"Its simple and powerful design is something of a rarity among Japanese cars. It's undeniable that the Nissan designers wanted to express the story of the Skyline GT-R through this car. And that is truly an act of love."
—Hikonori Kagurazaka, explaining the R34 Skyline in GT Cafe, Gran Turismo 7
The Skyline GT-R is the top-of-the-line performance sports car based on the Nissan Skyline range of compact luxury sedans.
The first GT-R was produced in 1969 as the KPGC10 chassis or as it's more commonly known, the "Hakosuka".note It found lasting success in motorsports with 49 consecutive wins in its belt. In 1973, the next generation GT-R was produced and highly regarded as the "Kenmeri" Skyline due to it renowned advertising, featuring a young couple named Ken and Mary, despite its short-lived production due to emission regulations.
The GT-R name was revived following a 16-year hiatus, now as the twin-turbocharged 4WD BNR32 (or R32 for short). The R32 Skyline participated in various motorsport events, mainly in touring car championships in Japan and Australia, which saw dominance in both series, winning consecutive championship titles, to the point that Australian motor publication Wheels nicknamed the GT-R "Godzilla" for its technology and performance in its July 1989 issue.
The Skyline GT-R became the flagship of Nissan performance, showcasing many advanced technologies. Production ended in 2002 and was succeeded by the Nissan GT-R (R35) in 2007, which is a separate grand tourer unrelated to the Skyline range. Today, the car is popular for import drag racing, circuit track, time attack and events hosted by tuning magazines.
Despite the Skyline GT-R never being manufactured outside Japan, note it has become an iconic sports car as a used Japanese import vehicle in the Western world note , prompting Nismo's announcement in 2019 that it would resume production of spare parts and components for all generations of the Skyline GT-R.
The car was named at the time by Top Gear (UK) as "the only true Japanese contribution in the line of supercars," and by Jeremy Clarkson as one of the best cars in the world.
Anime and Manga
- GT-RRR, which consists of nothing but Skyline GT-R models is piloted by Shunsuke in the anime of Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter
- A red R32 GT-R is the Cool Car of Miyuki Kobayashi, a professional Getaway Driver during the final season of City Hunter.
- Nao Kadena, the legendary street racing queen of Great Teacher Onizuka drives a Hakusoka as her personal Cool Car. In the prequel GTO: The Early Years however, she uses Kenmeri GT-R instead, a rare sight to see amongst the 197 units produced.
- Initial D has very well-known examples where the Skyline GT-R plays its part:
- A black pearl metallic R32 GT-R is perhaps a popular example. It's driven by Myogi NightKids leader, Takeshi Nakazato. Because of its AWD layout, the car would rather grip more than drift, which may not be as flashy as it seems. In his battle against Takumi, his R32 suffered understeer and wear, causing the car to lose control and hits a guardrail, damaging it.
- Kozo "God Foot" Hoshino of Purple Shadow drive a Millennium Jade Nür-spec GT-R R34. In his own history, he was an owner of previous generation GT-Rs to the point non of them fits his taste, prior to his R34 Nür purchase.
- Rin Hojo in Fifth Stage drives a gun gray R32. He uses this car to battle Ryosuke's RX-7 in a deathmatch at Hakone Turnpike, where Rin uses his car like a battering ram and slam the hell out of Ryosuke. The continous pummeling resulted in Rin's tires and brakes began to fail, and seemingly wants to die by speeding his car and crash into a tollbooth. That is when Ryosuke and Ryuji Ikeda in his Z33 stopped him.
- Hamatora in one episode has The Protagonist, Nice chases down a drug dealer driving a Bayside Blue Nissan R34 GT-R, using his Sonic Minimum to deliver a kick to the car, losing control, and falling down to the sea. As they are Trapped in a Sinking Car, Murasaki saves them by using his Super-Toughness to lift the car back to the surface.Murasaki: Don't litter the ocean!
- Minoru Minowa of Magic User's Club in episode 3 could be seen driving for his dear life in his Hakusoka whilst fleeing from a Whirlybird which disintegrated his car.
- Utage Douraku and her Toyota Vellfire gets into an Initial D-style race against a somebody in a modified Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 in My Mental Choices Are...
- Wangan Midnight loves Skyline GT-Rs to the point it's been driven by many characters.
- This is the choice of car of The Fashionista Reina Akikawa, an R32 with a gunmetal grey paint job. Following the end of the Perfect GT-R arc, as well as her Expository Hairstyle Change, her R32 was changed into a Crystal white finish.
- Speaking of the "Perfect GT-R", Green Auto shop mechanic Koichi Hiramoto attempted to immortalize his own R32. In the long run against the Devil Z and Blackbird, he back off and withdraws from the race. He later sold his R32 and gives up racing so he can return to his wife Megumi and their newborn child.
- Since Maximum Tune 2, RGO Yamanaka usually drove RGO's pink R33 Skyline GT-R.
- The R200CLUB shows the definitive meaning of Everybody Owns an R33 Skyline as every single member, including FLAT Racing's Takayuki Kuroki drives nothing but R33 Skylines.
- Tomoya, a mechanic in ACE tuning shop and the so-called "R-Killer" drives a modified R32 Skyline, dubbed the "ACE32R", which he failed to overtake both the Devil Z and the Blackbird during a race for Wangan superiority, resulting him to leave Tokyo for good.Tomoya: I'll never forget this race.
- Yuji Kishida, Yamamoto's half-brother who works at YM Speed also drives an R33. In Maximum Tune 6, he decided to tryout a sports roadster, the Honda S2000.
Film — Live Action
- The Big Bad of Jackie Chan's racing film Thunderbolt runs a black and red "DELTA" Skyline GT-R R32, who tries to cheat his way to win, especially ramming Chan's Mitsubishi GTO at the gravel trap.
- Perhaps one of the best examples would be the iconic silver and blue-striped R34 GT-R of 2 Fast 2 Furious, as seen in the hands of Brian O'Connor. This would be his go-to car used to battle against Suki, Slap Jack and Orange Jack. Brian would continue to use the R34 in Fast & Furious before ditching it for an R35 in future films.
- Earlier on, Leon, one of the members of Dominic Toretto's crew drives a yellow R33 in the first film, used to partake in street racing.
- After breaking Dominic Toretto was broken free from the prison bus at the beginning of Fast Five, Brian O'Connor obtains a black 1971 Nissan Skyline GT-R and drives himself and his love interest Mia to Rio de Janeiro. How on earth did this extremely rare car find its way to Brazil anyway? Who cares!
- How does F9 end? Cue Brian O'Connor's R34 arriving at Toretto house, joining the family for grace!
- This Ace Custom Citadel armada vehicle called the "Caltrop #2" in Mad Max: Fury Road uses the R32 Skyline GT-R as the basis.
- Nightbird, the sole female member of the Terrorcons in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has her altmode; a Nissan Skyline GT-R R33 with a grey-faded brown two-tone paint scheme, pink custom wheels, a rear wing, and louvres.
- Battle Gear has the Skyline GT-Rs as Nissan's A-Class powerhouse. In 4 Tuned, you also get special edition models like the Nismo-tuned Skyline R34 and the limited R33 GT-R LM.
- In Blur, the twins Harumi and Ayumi both drive Skyline GT-R Nismos. Beat them in a one-on-one— or... one-on-two race, and you get not one, but two of the GT-Rs, both fitted with "Scatter Shot" allowing you to throw all 3 bolts in a single press of a button.
- The Nakamura Ikusa GT in Burnout Paradise strikes a resemblance to the R34 GT-R.
- Then you have the Incubator V12 of Crashday, based on the Nissan Skyline GT-R R34. Note that Skyline GT-Rs use inline-6 engines, not V12s.
- The Nissan Skyline (BCNR33) GT-R appeared in Driver: San Francisco, depicted as left-hand drive for some reason, something Japan never produced in real life. The team race mission has one of the key charcater Tanner!Jules drive this.
- Extremely common in Forza, whether in vanilla stock, racing or pre-tuned flavors.
- Gran Turismo: You will see crap tons of trim levels of the Nissan Skyline GT-R to the point it has the "Race of Red Emblem" one-make race. Some of the huge long list of examples are the V-spec, V-spec II, V-spec II Nür, M-spec, all the Nismo variants, JGTC variants, the memetic pace car, and the list goes on, and on, and on...
- The Annis Elegy Retro Custom in Grand Theft Auto Online is a mishmash blend of multiple generations of the Nissan Skyline GT-R.
- GRID gives you the Nismo R34 Z-tune as one of the Pro Tuner cars. Its subsequent games later add 2 R32s: a Group A variant and the time attack Auto Gallery machine. In Grid Legends, a Rice Burner Time Attack R34 is also added in the tuner list.
- Le Mans 24 has the Nismo GT-R LM as one of the beginner cars, which will give you a slim chance of getting in the Top 5.
- Midnight Club features the GT-R as a venerable JDM import for street racers to begin with:
- Makoto, the penultimate boss of II drives the Torque JX, a Skyline R34 Expy with a Veilside Street drag kit.
- In 3, it's a Class C Tuner that can battle maxed-out Class B cars or even some Class A cars. Oscar would say, that it is "one of the most beautiful import tuners you can get." In 3 Remix, the R34 serves as Tokyo's police car. ...and you can actually drive it.
- Speaking of import tuners, Los Angeles has the R34 available too. It's too improbable to have a Skyline in America at the first place, that the local police will call you out for this!This thing is too fast there is no way it is street legal!
- Need for Speed is happy to add the Godzilla in their long-running franchise:
- The Need for Speed Japan-exclusive Over Drivin' GT-R and Over Drivin' Skyline Memorial is your complete textbook example where Everybody Owns a Nissan. Exactly What It Says on the Tin, Skyline GT-Rs are included.
- High Stakes made the Skyline GT-R R34 a Japan-exclusive car.
- One of the most famous Need for Speed cars is Eddie's orange custom Eastsiders R34 in Underground. It's so nifty, it served as the game's cover front and center and it would make a comeback in future NFS games. The vanilla R34 itself would return in subsequent games, starting with Carbon.
- The cover car in Payback is a red R34 with a Sun Line Racing body kit, driven by Tyler Morgan during the game's prologue.
- The R32 of the Speedhunters Showdown organizer, Dex in Heat is a clear Shout-Out to the Bathurst-winning Group A R32 race car.
- The Drifter GT in Sleeping Dogs is based on the R34 variant of the Skyline GT-R, with some influences from the Toyota Chaser.
- Racing Lagoon features the almighty Godzilla used to dominate the streets of Yokohama:
- The Shiina sisters Kyoka and Haruka drive matching black 32TypeRs, which would be the R32 Skyline GT-R to be exact.
- ...but what stood out amongst the Godzillas is the Pimped Out Monster-R, a completely modified Nissan R33 Skyline GT-R.
- Street Racing Syndicate has an absurd amount of R34 trims, like in Gran Turismo. But what makes it distinctive is Ken's yellow C-West R34, being the iconic car of the game.
- Test Drive 5 has the R33 Skyline, while the R34 would take over in 6, Overdrive (also serving as the cop car in Tokyo) and Unlimited (which oddly uses a left-hand drive for some reason).
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer:
- Free Way is a team composed entirely of GT-R drivers who believe they're driving no mere car, but the embodiment of Japan itself given car form. As such, they're extremely prideful of their cars, and will not take insults towards them lying down.
- The most famous GT-R in the series is undoubtebly Jintei's azure R34, one of the three fastest cars in the Metropolitan Expressway's history. In spite of using it in only three of the six games he appears in, it remains the car he's most commonly associated with.
- Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune features all the five generations of the Skyline GT-R. The R32 is extremely used ubiquitously by many players, while the R34 is considered to be a High-Tier Scrappy, to the point it's being called the "No Skill GT-R".
